http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/12 ... enter.htmlEnligt Craig Venter (läs artikeln) krävs det ett vetenskapligt genombrott för att algbaserade biobränslen ska kunna konkurrera med dagens bränslen. Det kostar helt enkelt för mycket. Och de framsteg man gör ger inte de resultat som krävs:
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Our team has been focused on modifying photosynthesis and we managed to change the efficiency of the photosynthetic process, but it did not yield more lipid. So the biomass actually went down, the cell number went up. The approach we are trying is making a whole new synthetic chromosome to add to algae that totally changes the gene and protein set available. I think that’s the best hope. We don’t know if that is going to work.
Andra problem är att tekniken ifråga kan användas till andra områden som ger mer pengar:
Citat:
—Craig Venter
In addition to the scientific challenges, the biofuel field faces significant economic hurdles, Venter pointed out. For one, fuels are basically at the bottom of the economic ladder. In the Omega 3s food area, Venter said, his team has managed to deliver a lot of lipid production; the approach may be applicable to the energy field.
But when you look at the economics of producing Omega 3s versus making something just to burn, it doesn’t make you want to work on fuels at all.
Fuels were an early publicly sexy target, but they are the lowest end of the entire field. We were talking at lunch. A glass full of therapeutic antibodies would be worth millions of dollars … or about 50¢ worth of biofuel. If we’re going to target one or the other, I think it’s clear which direction to go to. Food and chemicals are much further up the economic ladder. With the discovery of all the natural gas, once again the biofuel field is set back tremendously.
Och som nämns på slutet så är det hård konkurrens från den naturgas man hittat på senare tid. Craig menar på att enda sättet att lösa detta är högre skatter på koldioxid. Och det är klart, det är svårt att konkurrera med energi som man "bara" plockar upp ur marken. Som skräckexempel kan man ta Venezuela där bensinen kostar 7 öre litern